A heart patient waited eight hours for an ambulance, only to be left languishing on a hospital trolley for seven more before being treated.

Adam Hunter, 72, had only been out of Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital for two weeks when he complained of difficulty moving and breathing

The retired yard boss’ GP examined him at his Glenburn home and arranged for transport to the RAH’s coronary care unit only two miles away.

But, despite calling for an ambulance at noon, Adam, who is blind and has suffered four strokes and a heart attack, was left waiting until 8.40pm.

His wife Kathleen, 65, who owned the Kit-On schoolwear shop on Wellmeadow street before she retired, had to call 999 before paramedics arrived.

She told the Paisley Daily Express: “We were left sitting about all day, while Adam wasn’t feeling well.

“We were told the ambulance would be two to four hours, as it wasn’t an emergency, but it didn’t come at all. I eventually had to make an emergency call because we’d been waiting so long.

“The system is failing.”

The couple eventually made it to the Corsebar Road hospital, but the wait was only just beginning.

The in-patient assessment ward had closed by the time they arrived, meaning Adam, who has six stents in his heart and more in his kidneys, had to wait to be seen by doctors in A&E.

He was put on a trolley and left in a corridor, where Kathleen had to stand beside him on crutches, because there were no seats.

She added: “There were others left out in the hall on stretchers.

“While we were waiting, drunks were walking in and being treated ahead of Adam.

“It was chaos and we were caught up right in the middle of it, I thought we had been forgotten about.

“Somebody came around and did some minor checks and said hello, but that was it.”

Diabetic Kathleen says the couple did not eat all day as they waited to leave for the hospital last Thursday.

The mum-of-three missed her insulin injection because she cannot take it before food.

She suffered a dizzy spell and had to return home around 1.30am – but Adam waited another three hours before he was seen.

Kathleen continued: “He phoned me on his mobile and told me that was him just being taken – I couldn’t believe it.

“The staff work so hard in the RAH, they are amazing, but they just aren’t getting enough help.

“We urgently need more doctors and nurses, because the RAH is taking in patients from as far away as Greenock and Oban.

“There’s just not enough staff and not enough beds.”

The Scottish Ambulance Service admitted the service was pressed, but says staff “kept in touch” with the couple.

A spokesman said: “Emergency ambulances are prioritised according to the clinical need of the patient and, unfortunately, Mr Hunter waited longer while there was higher than usual demand for crews.”

Hospital bosses have apologised for Adam’s ordeal, stating they aim to have 95 per cent of all patients “assessed, treated, discharged or admitted to an inpatient bed within four hours”.

An NHS spokeswoman added: “Whilst this patient was triaged and diagnostic tests undertaken within 15 minutes of arriving at the hospital, he waited longer for assessment by the speciality team than the standard we work towards.

“To reduce any further delays it was agreed, following discussion with the clinical team and the bed manager, that the patient be admitted to ward eight where he had been treated on a previous occasion.

“We would like to apologise to the patient and his family for the delay they experienced.”